Frank wins gold for TUS at World Skills Ireland

Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) will honour its three World Skills Ireland champions and their mentors at a ceremony this month following All-Ireland wins for a quarter of the TU’s entries.

The TUS winners won the Industrial Control, Industrial Mechanical, and Plumbing categories at the all-Ireland event at this year’s competition in the RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin.

Plumbing apprentice Frank Moffit from Ballynacargy, took home the gold in the Plumbing category, winning his competition under the mentorship of lecturer Shane Kelly, based on the Athlone Campus.

Conor Grace from Toomevara in County Tipperary won the Industrial Control competition with the support of Moylish based lecturer Francis Condon. Conor works with the ESB in Nenagh.

Mechanical automation and maintenance fitter apprentice Gary Golden from Swinford, County Mayo, was also successful. Supported by TUS Moylish Campus lecturer in the Mechanical and Automobile Engineering Department Keith O’Brien, Gary is employed by Olandi Engineering, Castlebar, County Mayo.

In total, 12 TUS-based apprentices qualified for the World Skills Ireland finals this year, and a quarter won gold.

TUS is no stranger to success at the World Skills competition as culinary arts student Jack Rice and mechanical automation apprentice Reece Seery won their categories last year.

TUS is a leading provider of apprenticeship education in craft and consortia-led apprenticeships, and trains more than 2,000 apprentices annually across a range of disciplines.

TUS president Professor Vincent Cunnane highlighted the importance of craft and consortia-led apprenticeships to the regional economies. “TUS continues to futureproof apprenticeship capacity and recognises the need for qualified workers and people who are highly and technically trained in areas with future skills needs,” he said.

“We are already catering for the significant increased demand for apprenticeships nationally. Earlier this year we opened a new apprenticeship facility on our Athlone Campus, which will create active learning space for up to 1,000 apprentices a year, almost doubling the campus’s existing capacity.

“With the opening of our new Coonagh Engineering Campus we will be able to increase our apprenticeship intake to 1,900 in Limerick, all the while we are also developing new apprenticeships up to level 9 for 2024,” he said.